- Area:
- Northern Ireland
- Programme:
- Awards for All Northern Ireland
- Release date:
- 15 2 2012
Six groups from across Northern Ireland’s North West are today sharing in a grants windfall from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme.
The small grants programme is awarding grants totalling nearly £35,000 to the local groups as part of a grants roll-out of £554,553 to 66 groups across Northern Ireland. (
see separate attachment for full list of awards
- 77KB).
Awards for All offers community, voluntary and statutory groups the chance to apply for small grants of between £500 and £10,000 that will have a big impact on local communities and the lives of people most in need.
Community Action For Locally Managing Stress (C.A.L.M.S) Ltd, which offers support for people in the Derry~Londonderry area who are dealing with mental ill health, stress and anxiety, has been awarded £9,500.
The organisation will use the grant to run the ‘Link Ages’ project, bringing together young and older people across the city who are dealing with anxiety and stress and encouraging them to share their experiences and worries and learn ways of coping from each other.
“We are based in a centre on Northland Street and we support people across Derry~Londonderry to deal with a range of mental health issues including stress, anxiety and depression,” said Project manager Elaine Porteus.
“Previous projects we have run, along with a range of research on stress and anxiety, have shown that there are particular groups in society that are more susceptible to stress than others: young people aged 17-25 and older people over 60.”
“This is due to a number of factors for young people, who are dealing with a range of issues such as the recession and lack of jobs, debt and the impact of the Troubles, while older people might be dealing with isolation, fear, vulnerability and lack of money.”
She continued: “Many of the people we support come from areas of deprivation and disadvantage in the city where there is low educational attainment and they have few prospects or social activities in their lives. This project will bring the two groups together in informal group meetings to have a chat, get to know each other and build friendships and share their worries, feelings and fears.
“We’ll also offer everyone a range of therapies including counselling, complimentary therapies like massage and reflexology and potentially stress relieving activities like yoga and tai-chi, while we’ll also run art classes so people can express their emotions.
“The young people will get the chance to learn from the life experiences of older people and will be able to open up to someone they trust and respect, while older people will get the chance to socialise and pass on their knowledge and experiences, while also realising they don’t need to be afraid of our young people.
“We hope this project will boost the confidence and self-esteem of everyone involved, reducing their feelings of loneliness and isolation and giving them the chance to learn from each other.”
Shantallow Community Residents Association, which works to improve the lives and opportunities of people in the Shantallow area, has also been awarded £9,958 to run a range of community safety initiatives.
Frank Hewitt, Big Lottery Fund NI Chair, said: “The Big Lottery Fund’s NI Awards for All programme funds health, education, environment and community projects that help people bring about positive change in their lives, improve health and well-being, develop skills and create safer communities.
“The application process is simple and accessible and shall remain so, making it easy for applicants to successfully apply for small pots of funding that can have such a big impact on local communities and lives.”
Application forms and guidance notes are available to download at www.awardsforall.org.uk
For more details call us on 028 9055 1455, or e-mail us at enquiriesni@biglotteryfund.org.uk
For further information contact
Andrew Kennedy, Press Office Big Lottery Fund: 9055 1426
Mobile: 07788 640 791
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Notes to Editors
- The changes to Awards for All come after each distributor developed their funding programmes so they could offer specific small grants schemes that would better meet the needs of their sectors.
- The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 46% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
- in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £26 billion has now been raised and more than 330,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment
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